US EPA

2283459 

Journal Article 

Comment 

When a healthy diet turns deadly 

Zumbrun, SD; Melton-Celsa, AR; O'Brien, AD 

2014 

1 

Gut Microbes
ISSN: 1949-0976
EISSN: 1949-0984 

5 

1 

40-43 

English 

23989728 

10.4161/gmic.26263 

WOS:000457421600006 

The health benefits of a high fiber diet (HFD) result in part from the action of metabolic end products made by gut commensals on the host epithelium. Butyrate is one such beneficial metabolite; however, butyrate paradoxically enhances the capacity of Escherichia coli-produced Shiga toxin type 2 (Stx2) to kill tissue culture cells. We recently showed that mice fed a HFD exhibited increased butyrate in gut contents and had an altered intestinal microbiota with reduced numbers of Escherichia species. Furthermore, mice fed a high fiber diet and infected with Stx-producing E. coli (STEC) were colonized to a higher degree, lost more weight, and succumbed to infection at greater rates compared with STEC-infected low fiber diet animals. The HFD animals showed higher levels of the Stx receptor globotriaocylceramide (Gb3) in both the gut and kidneys. We speculate that a HFD that leads to increased intestinal butyrate and Gb3 in the intestines and kidneys may explain the higher rate of the hemolytic uremic syndrome in females over males.